Top Priorities for the Braddock District
Ken's campaign slogan, People Before Politics, is not just a saying. It's a promise. Serving the needs of Braddock District residents is his highest priority. These top priorities Ken would like to address as Braddock District Supervisor are based on in-depth community input and listening to hours of public hearings: ​​
Address the commercial vacancy rate to reduce the burden on residential taxpayers. ​
Advance key Braddock District projects such as preserving Lake Accotink and fixing Braddock Road.​
Promote safe and inclusive neighborhoods through increased funding for first responders, community organizations, and nonprofits while supporting the military and our Federal workforce. ​
Improve fiscal responsibility through more continuous collaboration with the School Board beyond the budget development process and greater advocacy for state funding. ​
Restore confidence and trust in the Board of Supervisors to reassure those we represent that their voices are heard.​
Address the commercial vacancy rate to reduce the burden on residential taxpayers.
Nearly 81% of the County’s budget comes from real estate tax and personal property tax with a large percentage of that coming from taxes on your home. Meanwhile, the commercial vacancy rate has increased to nearly 18% with the value of these properties decreasing. With strapped budgets, the current Board of Supervisors has overburdened residential taxpayers and established new taxes to make up the difference in revenue. Ken would like to establish a systematic approach for identifying vacant office spaces across the County, so they can be redeveloped into practical facilities such as mixed-use properties. This approach can grow the residential real estate base without overburdening current taxpayers while organically reducing the commercial vacancy rate – both of which will help to lower your individual share of taxes and close the critical gap in fully funding FCPS requests for school funding.
​​
Redevelopment could also spur the economy by boosting the hospitality industry with the influx of spending at food establishments. The revenue generated by the meals tax, since it is now a codified source of income, would further reduce the reliance on residential real estate taxes.
​
Since Ken puts People Before Politics, he understands that any redevelopment would greatly be informed by community input by considering factors like how well they blend with the aesthetics of the surrounding neighborhoods, traffic impacts, and school capacity to serve the influx of students. Mixed-use redevelopments would also help the County achieve its goal of creating 10,000 affordable housing units by 2034.
Advance key Braddock District projects such as preserving Lake Accotink and fixing Braddock Road.​
Two of the largest priorities specific to the Braddock District are preserving as much of Lake Accotink as possible and fixing Braddock Road. Both of these projects have been discussed and received community input for nearly a decade but have not had physical work started on them. Prioritizing these key initiatives are also a reason Ken earned the endorsement of former Braddock District Supervisor John Cook, as both items saw great advancements during his time on the Board of Supervisors.
Ken was an integral part of the Future of Lake Accotink Task Force having been directly invited by former Board of Supervisors Chair, Sharon Bulova. His specific contributions included identifying the value of Lake Accotink and Lake Accotink Park to the Fairfax County community and independently analyzing the flawed community survey whose skewed results were used by the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES) to justify their recommendation to not dredge Lake Accotink despite there already being dedicated funding for the project. You can read more about Ken's contributions in the Task Force's final report.
The multi-modal improvements planned for Braddock Road has been a key concern for several residents of the Braddock District for years. Like with Lake Accotink, there has already been dedicated funding set aside for this project. The Commonwealth of Virginia identified this as a key project worthy of state funding. Ken is dedicated to seeing that concrete steps are taken to make this infrastructure endeavor a reality.
Promote safe and inclusive neighborhoods through increased funding for first responders, community organizations, and nonprofits while supporting the military and our Federal workforce.
As a past civic association president, Ken knows the importance of safe and inclusive communities. This comes with increased support for our police and firefighters who have experienced funding challenges over the last several years. Funding for the Police Department was stagnant for FY26, but its percentage of the overall General Fund dropped from 14.2% to 13.5%. The Fire Department saw a nearly $9 million decrease in funding with its percentage of the overall General Fund falling from 13.8% to 12.7%. The Board of Supervisors must be more intentional with funding for our first responders who keep our communities safe and assist us during life and death situations.
​
Additionally, Fairfax County has become more and more diverse over the last several decades. To that end, our immigrant population needs greater support since they are important members of the county’s vibrant community. Ken is the child of a Filipino native who came to America through the United States Navy. Ken also worked in an immigration office early in his career. He understands their unique challenges, and how they feel more at ease working with community-based organizations and nonprofits who have strong community ties and a rich history of serving them. Ken previously served on the Fairfax County Consolidated Community Funding Pool (CCFP) Selection Advisory Committee at the recommendation of Supervisor James Walkinshaw. The CCFP plays a crucial role in funding these organizations that provide vital assistance to our immigrants, though it has remained flat at 0.4% of all budget disbursements over the last five fiscal years. Ken supports increased funding to the CCFP program and would be extremely proud to be the first Asian to ever serve on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors since he is a child of an immigrant.
​
Ken also strongly supports the military community. This extremely important segment of the Fairfax County population is comprised of approximately 65,000 military veterans, including 13,000 active duty personnel. As a former Federal employee and a government contractor supporting the Defense industry, Ken is committed to filling gaps in services for veterans such as facilitating access to mental healthcare, helping veterans who have drug-related arrests get recovery support, and navigating veterans through workforce development programs at George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College (both located in the Braddock District) to maximize their GI Bill benefits. Ken supports the 80,000 members of the Federal workforce and contractors in Fairfax County, many of whom have been impacted with job losses. He will help them to access several key services listed on the County's Federal Workforce Resource Hub. Carry for our military, veterans, Federal workers, and displaced contractors embodies the spirit of Ken's campaign slogan of putting People Before Politics.
Improve fiscal responsibility through more continuous collaboration with the School Board beyond the budget development process and greater advocacy for state funding.
More than 51% of the County's budget supports Fairfax County Public Schools, yet FCPS faced a $121 million shortfall. For years, the current Board of Supervisors has stated that the only way to address this is to cut funding from critical County programs and services or to raise taxes. Real estate taxes for homeowners increase year-over-year. The County estimates that the average assessment for 2025 increased by 6.65%, and the Board of Supervisors voted to increase taxes to nearly $500 for every homeowner while also pushing through a meals tax that residents voted against twice (the most recent time being in 2016). At the same time, the Board of Supervisors voted themselves a nearly 30% increase.​
​
The ​Board of Supervisors and the FCPS School Board have very infrequent joint meetings, and perennially argue during budget season, casting blame on one another. At least one School Board member has called for greater financial management that includes increased collaboration between these two elected bodies to create a roadmap to success. Coming together is important now more than ever with the potential of frozen federal funds that would further strain FCPS.
The same School Board member pushing for increased collaboration also stated that it will be a "Full Team Effort" to advocate for Richmond to sustain the funding increase Governor Younkin directed to FCPS under the Commonwealth's amended budget in April. Continuous collaboration between the Board of Supervisors and the School Board is not only wise but necessary.
Restore confidence and trust in the Board of Supervisors to reassure those we represent that their voices are heard.
Ken listened to hours of public hearings from recent Board of Supervisors meetings ranging from land use issues to budget testimonials. One theme that strongly emerged was that Fairfax County residents believe that the current Board of Supervisors frequently do not listen to their constituents. The Board goes through the motions of establishing public input sessions, but they ultimately do what they want. This has led to degraded trust in the Board from the people they were elected to serve.
​​
Ken has frequently said, “How can we serve our constituents if we are only serving our own needs?” To that end, Ken is committed to listening to his electorate and diligently representing their voices on matters before the Board of Supervisors, doing what he can to restore trust in their local elected officials. This also includes a promise for promoting transparency and balancing myopic group think with alternative approaches to government solutions that are worthy of discussion. It's People Before Politics.